(urth) The Piteous Gate

[pthwndxrclzp]

There's another possible scenario, though with the barest of textual
support.

We are told, iirc, that some cacogens use the interior of the Wall as a way
station.  We also know that some of the cacogens have access to
extra-temporal information about Urth (and Sev). It doesn't seem that much
of a stretch to think that perhaps one of the cacogens, perhaps a
particularly monstrous one, stuck in the Wall, and knowing that this passage
might be his/her only chance to get an eyeful of the future Epitome of Urth,
popped outside for a peek. The sudden appearance of such an alien would
likely cause just the sort of panic among the walkers as we then see.

I know there's essentially no support for this, and it does move in a
direction that would set William of Occam to shaking his unshaven head in
dismay...but I can't escape the feeling that it is Severian's presence that
sets the riot in motion, somehow.

On 2/24/06, James Wynn <thewynns at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> While reminding everyone that I'm not satisfied with the uhlan
> explanation,
> I'll say this:
> The uhlans had to show up sometime. It could have been a fluke. They
> showed
> up then. If they hadn't Severian wouldn't have recorded the event. The
> group
> would not have gotten split up. Book Two would have proceeded very
> differently from the way it did. (Seen the movie "Slackers"?) That's the
> way
> it happened.
>
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